Do you have a hankering to play classic 1995 not-quite-space shooter Descent these days? If you do, you ought to keep an eye out on WiiWare.

1995's Descent was quite a few things. It was (and is) a beloved retro classic, held up as a member of the heyday of space shooters. It was a nausea-slash-vertigo simulator for some, who found themselves getting lost in the endless mine tunnels of the Solar System. It was the beginning of a franchise that led to what is considered by some to be the finest space shooter ever made: Descent: Freespace.

Oh, and it's also coming to the Nintendo Wii as WiiWare.

That's right, you'll be flying your MD1032 Material Defender through the series' six degrees of movement (up/down, left/right, forward/backward) with the Wii Remote. "Descent remains the most popular 1080 degree 3D blasting game. Translating its 3D worlds and gameplay to WiiWare is an exciting move", said Herve Caen, CEO of Interplay.

"Descent will pair perfectly with the motion-sensing Wii Remote controller and we can't wait to show players how intuitive the gameplay and control can be," said Scott Hawkins, founder of G1M2, the developer that will be working with Interplay on the project.

I know I can't wait to get lost in a dizzying series of tunnels all over again! Who's with me?

I remember this game being hard as balls. The hardest difficulty would usually kill you in the first room. The coolest thing about it was the utilization of all three movement axes, though. I wonder what the control scheme will be.

Andy_Panthro:I found the controls difficult enough with a keyboard (numpad ftw), dunno how it will translate to Wii controllers.

I'd recommend people to head over to Good Old Games, where you can get Descent 1+2 for less than $6. Then, you can go look over at D2X-XL for a look at a hi-res overhaul.

That is sound advice. I still call it good news that Descent is coming ot the Wii, though. When it comes to porting retro games, a somewhat obscure PC game feels like a much more interesting addition than another SNES or N64 classic everybody has bought half a dozen times already.

This brings back bad memories of getting completely disorientated and forgetting which way was out when escaping the levels after the boss fight. That and keeping all of the missiles vulcan cannon ammo and bombs for situations in which I never used them because I always figured there would be something worse around the corner. That and Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold are the games that are responsible for my hoarding of weapons in games

I was always scared of this game. So many times i crashed into walls or other objects... and yet i kept playing...But not really excited about Wii-remake. First i dont have Wii, second it would probably ruin the beutifully frightening memories i have from this game.

John Funk:It was the beginning of a franchise that led to what is considered by some to be the finest space shooter ever made: Descent: Freespace

That's not actually true Funk, the Descent: Freespace game has no relation whatsoever to the Descent series, apart from springing from a common source (in a way). See, the first two Descent games were created by a company called Parallax - then Parallax split into two companies, Volition and Outrage. The plan was that they would trade off on new Descent titles, with Outrage handling Descent 3 and Volition designing #4 - only that never happened, as Interplay canceled it, and Outrage shut down.

The Freespace series meanwhile was all Volition's doing, and takes place in an entirely separate narrative framework that has no relation to anything in the Descent games. So why's the first one called Descent: Freespace if they aren't related? Copyright reasons. Turns out there was a hard disk utility called Freespace and so they tacked the Descent name onto their new space shooter to avoid legal troubles (and draw more attention since Volition was a brand new entity and Descent was a known quality).

The sequel, the one that's actually considered to be the finest space shooter ever made, Freespace 2, dropped the unrelated Descent part of the name as there were no pre-existing works with that name. And lo, it was awesome indeed.

Awesome, I loved this game when it came out; it was probably the last game where my dad could beat me since I don't think my 3D spatial skills were all there. And I think it was this (or 2?) that I spent ages on with the level builder.

For those without a Wii, the special for the whole Descent series at GOG just ended, but you can still get them just $5.99 for 1&2 combined! Plus $5.99 for each Freespace!

Man....I absolutely loved the Descent games. Descent 3 is up there with my fav games ever. The ease with which it moved from tunnels to open ground and back, plus much more diverse mission objetives than get in mine/destroy baddies and core/escape mine. My brother and I bought a Cyborg Evo joystick to play that game. Joystick plus mouse to move the nose= ownage. Nice. I wonder if the WiiMote controls will behave like a joystick, as if you where actually holding the lever (or however it's called) on a plane. I hope they include some motion control for the banking and rolling, as those where some of the most useful moves in the game.

It was kinda hard to play on the keyboard, but if you configured your controls right it wasn't all that annoying.

I played that game. I don't know why, but I played it a lot. And I hated it. Just seeing the screenshot made my brain convulse and sleepiness was the only thing keeping me from yelling unintelligible noises. Throbbing in the forehead. So glad I don't have a Wii. I'd probably download it, if I did. Drain of life, mind and will.